A LIGHTER MOMENT....

During the time I was running my own "corporation" at home for 20 years, the FAX machine had become a permanent fixture in the business world.  Though facsimiles transmitted by radio or telephone had been around for some time, few offices actually had FAX machines in the 1960's before I said "Goodbye" to that world.  

By the time I showed up at Data National Corporation in the late 1980's for my new life in the corporate world, the FAX machine had become an important and prominent fixture in every office.  Not only did it provide almost instantaneous connections to relay documents and other important papers, it was a source of wacky cartoons, jokes, serious reflections, and thoughts that were worth that wider exposure.  Kind of like social media is today, but it was never about personal stuff.  Only items that had a broader appeal.

Each morning when we came into work, the fax machine was already full of papers that had been sent during the night.  Most of what showed up was business related, but there were usually one or two items that were not.   

That was where I saw the drawing showing a popular cartoon figure of the time taking a hammer to his computer--a feeling I STILL have when things seem to go berserk with some computer program and I am beyond frustrated!

Some of those faxes were definitely worth saving.  Among them was the quote I often repeat by Silas Deane, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who said that from that time forward, the 4th of July should be celebrated with pomp, fireworks, and bands playing patriotic music.  Another was a quote about the worth of a woman which I have used in other settings.  

I found that folder from my Data National Days not long ago when I was rooting around in the closet for something else.  Naturally, I had to glance through it and reread some of those thoughts.  This joke made me laugh out loud all over again.  Perhaps you might get a kick out of it, too, a lighter moment for your day.  The subject line was 

A GREAT DEDUCTION:

"Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip.  After a good meal and a bottle of wine, they lay down for the night and went to sleep.  Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend awake.

"Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." 

Watson replied, "I see millions and millions of stars."

"What does that tell you?" Holmes questioned.  Watson pondered for a minute.

"Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.  Astrologically, I observed that Saturn is in Leo.  Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three.  Theologically, I can see that a God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant.  Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.  What does it tell you?"

Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke.  "Watson, you idiot.  Someone has stolen our tent!"

HAHAHA!

Have a BEAUTIFUL day!

ALLOWING CIRCUMSTANCES TO BE THE SOURCE OF BLESSINGS…

 Circumstances...

My fourth child was a darling blond-haired baby with a winning smile and beautiful deep violet-blue eyes. He was a sweetheart! Until evening…. And then the “Battle with the Baby” raged every sleep time at the end of the day for nearly two years. Jeremy simply did not sleep longer than 30 minutes at a time. Apparently, there was nothing physically wrong with him. He just didn’t sleep! 

 I remember so many times I would fall into bed totally exhausted from having gotten up to take care of him for the umpteenth time, and in seconds I would be sound asleep once more. Then when I heard him cry yet another time, I would look at the clock and maybe only ten minutes had passed! And here he was—up all over again! 

We tried everything...making sure he was all right, comforting him and then firmly saying “good night” as I was walking out of his room. We sometimes let him “cry it out”. We also tried all the suggestions the doctor and well-meaning friends offered. Nothing helped. 

Jeremy about 3 months

 Jeremy was such a cheerful little guy during the day and especially at Church, where our friends and neighbors had a hard time believing he was an insomniac baby. Bottom line-- no matter how long I waited before going into his bedroom when he was crying, as soon as he saw me, he always greeted me with those smiling blue eyes and a cute grin on his tear-stained face.

 EVERY night in our prayers—family prayer and my own personal prayers—we prayed that Jeremy would sleep through the night. Yet he didn’t. 

 One day in frustration I confided to a friend that I was at my wit’s end. Why couldn’t that prayer be answered? Doreen looked at me and simply said, “Georgia, maybe you are praying for the wrong thing. Perhaps you ought to change that prayer. Instead pray, that if you are up most of the night with your little guy, that the next day you will still be able to be loving to your children and have the patience you need to care for your family even though you know you are going to be exhausted and cross.” 

Pray not to change the circumstances, but pray that I could let the Lord bless me in my circumstance so I could continue on? That hadn’t occurred to me! 

Recently when I was studying about Rachel and Leah in the Old Testament for our Come Follow Me curriculum, I thought about this long-ago experience when Jeremy was a baby. 

 You might recall that both Rachel and Leah were Jacob’s wives. He loved Rachel and worked seven years to marry her according to the promise his uncle Laban made to him. But on the wedding night, Jacob discovered that Rachel’s older sister Leah was the one behind the veil, the one to whom he had been married, according to their custom.  Leah was the eldest and had to marry first. However, Laban did agreed Jacob could marry Rachel after a week’s wait, but he would have to work another seven years. Jacob gladly agreed because of his love for Rachel. 

 Sadly, Rachel wasn’t able to have children. And Leah was—lots of them which was a trial for Rachel.  You can imagine that Rachel prayed fervently that she would be able to have children, too. Eventually, Rachel did have two sons.

On the other hand, Leah knew Jacob loved Rachel more.  Perhaps Leah prayed that Jacob would love her, too.  In time,Jacob probably learned to love Leah, as well, because she was the mother of his sons and daughter. 

 Even though that was a different time and culture, we can still understand some of the feelings those women had about the circumstances under which they lived their daily lives.  In that story, and many others in the Bible, we learn that even though God hears--and answers each prayer--He doesn’t always give us exactly what we ask for. 

In April 2019 General Conference, Elder Brook P. Hales taught that our Father in Heaven is aware of us, He knows our needs, and He will help us perfectly. Sometimes our prayers are answered immediately. Sometimes our prayers are answered after a period of time. Sometimes our prayers are not answered at all in the way we hope, but there is possibly a different outcome which can be a greater blessing. Elder Hales said, “Because of that perfect love, [God] blesses us not only according to our desires and needs but also according to His infinite wisdom.” 

I have no idea why our prayers that Jeremy sleep through the night weren’t answered the way we wanted. We just longed for nights with peace and quiet…and a mother who wasn’t tired and cross the next day. Yet, even after my friend suggested that instead of praying to change the circumstance that I might better serve my family by praying to change myself, I didn’t “GET” it. 

 What a lot of stress I could have avoided if I had realized that the Lord was indeed aware and blessing us. I just didn’t recognize those blessings at the time because I was too caught up in the outcome I wanted. 

So, my invitation is to NOT do as I did. Remember that with God’s perfect love, he blesses us relative to our righteous desires and the things we need. He also blesses us using His boundless wisdom of what would benefit us most. 

I NOW know that is true!

Change your prayers. Change your life. 

BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!

BRRRRR....

After I came into the neighborhood yesterday afternoon and stopped at that NEW stop sign,    I saw two little girls all bundled up standing at the curb behind a portable table with a sign advertising HOT CHOCOLATE.  

It's been kind of a funny winter.  First NO snow at all until New Year's Eve Day, then several storms over the last couple of months that dumped so much snow much of it is still on the ground, even some roads are still snow-covered.  More like where I grew up in Wyoming.

Usually, we have winter seasons that are pretty navigable.  I walk outside every day and have some years ridden my bike almost every day in the winter, too.  But not this year.  Because of some really cold temperatures hovering at zero and below with the high for the day only in the teens for several days, the snow never melted like it usually does.  Most days have been colder than usual.

                                                                

Yesterday was no exception....it was five degrees when I stopped at the mailbox.  I glanced over at the mini concession stand.  There were no customers. That was surprising because there was a steady stream of cars coming into Carlson Farm neighborhood which had to stop at that new stop sign just a few feet from the beverage stand.  I parked my car and walked over to order a cup of hot chocolate. 

I always stop at neighborhood refreshment stands and purchase whatever is being sold as a way to support the efforts of these young entrepreneurs.  For several summers, I helped my own little boys sponsor an annual event we called "The Nichols Brothers Five-cent Sale".  It was an opportunity for them to earn a little cash to do something fun for which there was no money in an already tight family budget.  But we never tried hot chocolate in the winter.  That took some guts to get out on a cold day like yesterday and offer warm refreshment.

The cost: $2.00/cup.  I noticed the one little girl was very careful when she turned the spigot and held the cup under it.  After all she was wearing her mittens!  Though my styrofoam cup was barely half full (and for me it's always "hold the marshmallows!"), I handed over my two $1.00 bills and thanked them profusely for being so thoughtful on such a wintery day.  At once their pink faces were wreathed in big smiles.  With my own mittened fingers, I carefully carried my cup over to the car and got in thinking I would drink it at home where I could successfully handle putting the cup to my lips.  As I drove away, I glanced up to see the little girls both waving an enthusiastic goodbye.  

I don't know how long those cute "bundles" remained at their station.  Maybe they had already sold most of their product before I came along, and there wasn't much left.  But when I got home, I got my Valentine mug out of the cupboard and poured the half cup from the refreshment stand into it. Then I added another envelope of hot chocolate mix and some boiling hot water to make a really tasty drink.  

Thanks to a couple of bold little girls, I enjoyed a fun mid-afternoon treat I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't seen them bravely selling a hot commodity on a cold day.

It didn't seem quite so cold outside after that!

ALOHA!

Some days you just never know what might be in store for you... 

I had to get a new dentist after I retired.  

My new retirement insurance is totally different than the personal health insurance I had as a full-time employee for United Airlines.  And it stinks!  The only option for vision and dental was through Cobra, and that cost me an arm and a leg for the six months I was eligible for that coverage.  So, I scheduled my yearly eye and dental checkups just before that was no longer viable.  Then I went shopping for specific eye and dental insurance.

Long story short, I found a "reasonable" insurance plan, but my old dentist doesn't accept the new coverage which I finally purchased.  I was sorry because I had gone to Dr. Martin practically since I moved to Johnstown 18 years ago.  But new things sometimes bring surprises.

There were actually several dentists in the Loveland area which accepted new patients with my dental plan.  Easy.  I chose one that was close to the area where I shop all the time.  WRONG!  I wasn't paying any attention to the directional letter and assumed it was on the east end of Eisenhower Boulevard.  Well, it wasn't.  It is on the WEST side, several miles further on the road that goes to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  That's 45 minutes away!  It took barely five minutes to get to Dr. Martin at his office in the middle of old-town Johnstown.  Now I would have to plan my day around a visit to the dentist.

That was a bummer, and I was muttering under my breath about what a waste of time it was to drive all that distance to the west of Loveland and back home. Truly an imposition! I even contemplated switching to a different dentist on the east side of Loveland.

When I walked out of the dentist office after my first visit, I spied an antique store just about 500 feet from there that Louis has taken me to more than once.  A cool shop.  It actually has antiques instead of just old stuff that is probably 30 years old.  A lot of the items on display are older than I am, and I have seen many of them in my own home while I was growing up.

So, I thought, "Well, I might as well take a little detour and go west before heading east to Johnstown.  I deserve some kind of pleasant outcome for my journey."  But, I wasn't expecting anything like I found....  

I had been clear through the whole store, and then started right at the beginning again to take a second look.  I've found that sometimes on the first sweep I don't see everything.  That was the case this particular day.  I had almost finished the second swing through each of the aisles when I spied a stack of old post cards.  It's fun to glance through old post cards to see what the local places used to look like.  I like to see the kinds of pictures of cities and scenic places I remember seeing on those post card racks years ago.  All the gas stations had them.  And so did drug stores, restaurants, and gift shops at the tourist stops.  Lots of times in an antique store, the picture post cards are of places all over the country.  Probably someone's collection "turned out to pasture" after that person's death.  

I was flipping through them when my eye was instantly drawn to one particular one in that pile of cards.  It was a painting of a beautiful white ship steaming ahead in the ocean.  On each of the two smoke stacks was a big M.  

Lurline--Star of the Matson Line fleet

My first thought was, "Boy, that sure looks like the ship we sailed on when my dad took us on a cruise from Los Angeles to Hawaii and back when I was in Kindergarten." I pulled out my glasses and took a closer look.  In tiny letters painted on the prow of the ship was the name "Lurline".  It WAS the ship we were on for that fabulous vacation so many years ago in 1952!  It was a jewel in the Matson Line, and it was deserving of every superlative I could think of.

What a lot of memories flooded my mind.  The grandeur of the ship.  The seasickness for the first day or so.  Practice exercises with life jackets and life boats in the unlikely event of a sinking ship. The activities.  Especially the fun ones for kids.  The fancy restaurant and elegant food...of which I would only eat fresh sliced turkey breast with a half peach for garnish.  I was spoiled rotten by our waiter Sam who always brought that to me without even having to be asked.  He even gave me a gift when we finished the trip. It was a figurine of a hula girl riding a surfboard, which I still have.  The leis around our necks as we docked in Honolulu.

Then it was the 10 days we spent there in a little hut on the lawn of the Waikiki Hotel.  There were lots of those little huts for people who probably didn't have the money for a real hotel room in the hotel itself or in the only other hotel--The Royal Hawaiian, which was still painted pink when I went to Honolulu on layovers with United Airlines.

My dad rented a car with a driver who took us all over Oahu.  The North Shore, Tripler Hospital, the huge military cemetery.  We couldn't go into Pearl Harbor, though, as they hadn't yet finished mining for bombs and torpedoes.  We had to look from the shore.  Remember this was just seven years after World War II.  The luau with the roast pig and the hula show. Impressive, indeed, for a little girl of six.  We went to church in the chapel right next to the temple.  No walls.  Just screens, and the people came in shorts and flip flops. The first time I ever heard "Aloha" over the pulpit to begin the meeting.  I was aghast until my mother hastened to tell me that's how they lived and went to church.  Just different from the way we did things in snowy Wyoming.  The shopping. Oh, so many exotic experiences. 

 My favorite was the Dole pineapple factory where we picked up slices of fresh pineapple off the conveyor belt (OSHA would have a fit about that now!) and pineapple juice out of the spigot of the drinking fountains. Never even liked pineapple before that.  Became an instant fan in that place.  

That little postcard was like finding buried treasure.     My dad had wanted to go to Hawaii for as long as I could remember.  And when it finally looked like it was going to be a reality, he would listen to the old 78 record we had with Bing Crosby singing Hawaiian songs while he made the plans.  An ambitious journey for bumpkins from a small hick town on the high windy plateaus of Southeastern Wyoming. But my dad was a traveler.  Nothing or no one could dampen his relish for going new places.  I'm not sure where he went to make the plans a reality, but those many hours of daydreaming became a wonderful reality for my parents, my sister Marcie, and me.

I didn't even mention the 3-day train trip which we took going to Los Angeles and 3-days back. That plus the cruise meant No school for around three weeks.  We had lovely new clothes to wear, some of which my sister Lois sewed for Marcie and me. Everything about this whole undertaking was exciting--even in the memories.  Oh, it was a first-class experience the whole vacation!   I was so lucky!

How in the world did that little postcard of that beautiful ship Lurline happen to be in the antique store near where I currently live?  Can't even begin to imagine.  But that day's longer-than-wanted trip to the dentist turned out to be a gold mine of wonderful memories, even now after 70 years.  Life has been good!

Some new things DO bring surprises.....

 

 

STOP!

Our Carlson Farm neighborhood was established about 20 years ago.   And it will be 19 years this next summer that we have lived here.  As our subdivision grew in size until all the houses were finished, there has been nothing more than a round-about at the entrance of the neighborhood and stop signs only at some major intersections and at each side street.

Until....something new popped up!

I drove down to our chapel to practice the organ one morning last week about  9 a.m. Nothing different in that short trip which was the way it had always been in the hundreds of times I jaunted down  there for church or activities, or to practice the organ. "Left at the round-about. Straight down Carlson Boulevard to the stop sign at the T-junction of Carlson Boulevard and Brunner Boulevard.  One right turn, and an immediate left into the church parking lot." I was at my destination.

An hour later as I was driving back home the exact same way, there was suddenly a stop sign right in the middle of Carlson Boulevard where it is intersected by Holden Lane.  What the heck!?  Okay.  I guess that was inevitable.  The speed limit is 25 mph, and it was not uncommon to look down at my own speedometer and see I was going five or even ten miles over the limit!  I'm pretty sure most of the residents also went a wee bit over that posted 25 mph sign.

It was even mentioned over the pulpit at church one time that we needed to respect the neighborhood and go the speed limit.  NOT race to Church.  The directive was to leave early enough that we didn't feel the need to speed those uncluttered four blocks.

When I saw that new stop sign, I thought, "Awkward, but we'll get used to it."

Then I turned the corner at the round-about to get to my house and all of a sudden there was a stop sign right smack in the middle of  

the block!  The placement doesn't even make sense.  It's not by the crosswalk.  Not at the driveway turning into the swimming pool.   Not at the mailboxes--but in the middle of all those more sensible places.  Now THAT was awkward!  

What in the world prompted this sudden increase in stop signs?  Did I miss something from the HOA?  Was there some kind of petition to the city?  Don't know.  There are even orange flags waving at the top of each of those new stop signs to alert the more than occasional hasty driver.  But, that first day everyone was just breezing past those new stop signs...they weren't even on their radar.  

So, I decided I'd better get my lead foot off the gas pedal and make that two-minute drive into a two and a half minute one.  After all, what's an extra 30 seconds in the whole scheme of things....

It didn't take long to clearly realize the appearance of new stop signs is, after all, nothing more than a "bump in the road".  

HAHAHA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE NICHOLS FAMILY!

Momma G and Nichols Grand People, minus one,
at Sweetbriar
Thanksgiving 2021

The Nichols Kids--now parents in their own right
Thanksgiving 2021

January 17, 1969

It was 53 years ago today that the Nichols Family came into being!  An auspicious day that will always be counted as a very special occasion--a prelude to a multitude of highs, lows, and every gamut in between.

Though the big picture playing in my life right now is not the result of the screen play I wrote so many years ago, still there are plenty of things that make this day award winning:

    --Six terrific and outstanding people came along and became known as "The Nichols Kids"

    --Opportunities to live somewhere else four different times in the 1980's, with our house in Arvada, Colorado, standing at the ready for our return from Virginia, Sweden, Upstate New York, and West Berlin

    --Vacations and road trips that ran the broad spectrum of family reunions in Wyoming to touring the Alps, the fjords, navigating Eastern Bloc countries before THE WALL came down, amusement parks that were legend, and experiencing the splendor--and the ordinary--of storied places in Europe and America

    --Friends and acquaintances from all over the world

    --Missions, college, employment, dreams dashed and          dreams come true, and marriages which brought in-laws          just as special...plus ten exceptional grandchildren for         Momma G

    --And LOVE--lots of it!

Is it any wonder then, that instead of lamenting what might have been, I celebrate what we were and what we became.

Happy BIRTH  DAY to a terrific family!  What would I do without the blessings so generously bestowed upon me in the last five decades, plus, since the Nichols Family's humble beginnings?

I would be poor indeed...!

CHANNELING CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS.....

BEFORE...

About 15 years ago a movie came out that put a different spin on the commercialism of Christmas.  

The Kranks were empty nesters.  They decided rather than spend the money they would have spent on Christmas presents for each other, they would go on a cruise for Christmas instead.    

Fast forward to Christmas 2021 at the Nichols-Bateman household.  They are empty nesters.  They have spent many Christmas holidays apart while Georgia was a flight attendant with United Airlines.  There were also a handful of Christmas Day layovers  with United that included Louis.  Most memorable was the one in New Orleans, after Louis flew the whole trip on standby with Georgia.  Oh, there were a couple of years they spent parts of Christmas Day together, and in 2020 the first Christmas Georgia was retired, they spent the whole holiday together. 

They should have had a talk about just exactly HOW each wanted to celebrate--just like newlyweds have to determine.  Having already been married for nearly 20 years didn't count for anything when personal family traditions reared their tinseled heads.  Not great memories, that one....  

NOW...

This year after struggling with "should I or shouldn't I", I finally made the decision to display my beautiful collection of Nativity sets--probably for the last time.  It had been four years since the last one, and I was sure it wouldn't be easier when I was yet ANOTHER year older in 2022.

So, I forged ahead with the open house and turned the house into the magic and miracle of that one, wonderful night centuries ago.  The result was that every nook and cranny in every room in the house, except our bedroom and the laundry room, had some kind of Nativity display.  

Everything looked great.  But there was NO room to put presents under the tree (there was already a Nativity residing there!)  Nor was there any way to use the cooktop on the stove or even eat at the kitchen table which was decked out in the splendor of my new origami Nativity set.  We had been grabbing a burger here, a taco there.  Even some fried chicken or a salad or sub sandwich to go.

That was when Louis brought up a suggestion he had put forward months and months ago--let's go to the Gaylord Rockies Hotel for a little getaway.  This time it sounded like a solution to our dilema stemming from what we were going to do about celebrating Christmas at home.  That sounded like a good plan this time around.   Consequently, after Louis got off work on the 23rd, we headed to Denver International Airport to spend Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day at the Gaylord Hotel.  (This hotel complex has the same parent company as The Grand Ole Opry.)

I had watched as it was being built two or three years before.  It isn't right off Pena Boulevard, but large enough that it certainly looks imposing in the distance.  I had already concluded it was someplace that would be WAY too fancy for us to stay.

Turns out with Louis' Marriott points, it wasn't too bad.  The rooms are just regular but the main and lower floors in the wings are each large enough to house a variety of restaurants, bars, grab and go food pick-ups, coffe houses, pizza, ice cream, and food trucks.  Then there are the year round features like the swimming pool, a spa, plus a retail store and market place with Colorado and Western attire and amenities.  Whew !

For winter the whole outside turns into Glacier Point which sports snow tubing, ice skating, snowdrift mini golf, ice bumper cars, snow merry go-round, and a snow play area.  Lots of chilly activities to choose from.  And the colorful lights!  It was a delight to see everything in sparkling colors.

Inside the hotel down one of the great halls is Mistletoe Village featuring the predictable shops you would imagine for the Christmas holiday.  Stops like Mrs. Claus' Christmas Traditions, Build-a-Bear Workshop, Yuletide Street Market , Gingerbread Decorating Corner, photos with Santa, and a Sweet Shop.  It took a fair bit ot time to stroll around and check out each different enterprise.

Because we had been eating fast food, we set our minds--and our appetites--to have dinner the first night at the Old Hickory Steak House.  Louis had called for reservations, but was told they weren't taking any until next year!  But...we could do a "walk-in" if we wanted.  

The double line of cars off the main road to the check-in canopy was moving at a snail's pace.  Professional driver that Louis is, he took a left turn into the self park area and approached the front doors of the hotel.  Right to the valet parking.  YIKES!   $39.00 FOR OVERNIGHT!  However, the alternative was that we would have to walk about a quarter of a mile from the only parking spaces that were left in an outlying area.  Louis was on crutches, and we were starving. We opted to pay for the valet. 

Check-in was quick for all the cars of people out there.  Turns out most of them were there for the fun stuff which you can do without being a hotel guest.  Up to our room and down to the steak place.  Aha!  Turns out the reason the restaurant wasn't taking any resesrvations for dinner is because all the time slots had already been completely resesrved until after the first of year.  And the walk-in wait?  Nearly two hours!  We decided the Italian place looked pretty good and had a really nice dinner there with NO waiting.

Christmas Eve day we had that steak dinner and went to the movies.  Christmas morning, we got up late and had a nice breakfast before checking out and heading home.  A nice sunny and snowless Christmas day.  It was even pretty warm with temps in the 50's.

Like the Kranks, we spent the money we would have on presents for the hotel get-away.  But unlike the Kranks, we didn't have to rush home and "Make Christms" for anyone.  We spent a quiet Christmas night in our pajamas all by ourselves.

Do I think I will ever do something like a Christmas get-away again.  Nah!  Probably not.  I pretty much like a traditional Christmas with special Christmas Eve festities,.  That is to say:  reading from Luke chapter 2 or acting out the Christmas story, a family dinner, and presents under the tree to open on Christmas morning.  Call me old-fashioned.

From now on, I'll be jockeying to channel the familiar traditions I grew up with and introduced to my own family from that very first Christmas in 1969 when my oldest was just two months old.  The NIchols Family had a lot of great times over the years, enjoying the old traditions and introducing new ones as our circumstances had to adapt to the "what and where" that was going on in our lives at that time.  

However, I am convinced that no matter HOW we celebrate, the spirit of Christmas in which we honor Christ's birth has to always be the focal point of our entire holiday experience.  And, though the trappings were different this year, it was!